


Recovery

by Arctixx



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Murder mention, Can be seen as ship or platonic, DJ Grooves Centric, Hurt/Comfort, I gave DJ Grooves a real name, M/M, Out of Character, POV Third Person, Pre-Relationship, a tiny bit??, either way this would be, this is my first time writing these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29329608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arctixx/pseuds/Arctixx
Summary: DJ Grooves wakes up after the fight with Hat Kid.
Relationships: The Conductor & DJ Grooves (A Hat in Time), The Conductor/DJ Grooves (A Hat in Time)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	Recovery

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize if this is very out of character, this is my first time writing these two.

The penguin slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes as he tried to take in his surroundings. The light shining above him hurt his eyes, and he realized he didn’t have his glasses on. He shielded his eyes from the light, opening them to look at the man in front of him.

The Conductor stood there, “glaring” at him with a look of concern and anger. Even with no eyes, Grooves had known the bird well enough to know what their face meant. His jacket had been taken off and the sleeves of his button up were rolled to their elbows. Their hat was elsewhere, and in their hands were bandages.

DJ Grooves looked at him confused, trying to remember what happened last. His body hurt all over; the bandages The Conductor was holding were used all over his body. His eyes went wide as he remembered the context.

He let out a deep breath, and put his hand down, looking away from The Conductor. He felt ashamed- he let the rivalry between the two get to his head, and he tried to kill his own star, a  _ kid _ , just to try and go back in time and get the trophies he thought he deserved.

The feeling of winning the Annual Bird Movie Awards for the rest of his life would not be worth the death of a child.

_ “Do you… by chance have my glasses, darling?”  _ The penguin finally spoke up, though he didn’t look back at them.

The Conductor leaned over to the vanity behind him, grabbing the star shaped glasses. They held them out to him. “Yer old ones broke. Found a spare.”

“Thank you,” DJ Grooves reached for them and put them on, turning his head to face his rival. 

There was nothing but silence between them. They both had a lot to say, but didn’t know how to talk about it.

After all that? There was a lot to think about.

“So… where do we start?”

_“Where do we start- I-”_ Grooves prepared himself for The Conductor’s wrath. “Do you know wha woulda HAPPENED if that lil stunt of yers worked?” The Conductor began to pace in a circle in front of the moon penguin, moving his hands as he talked. “So ye plan to go back in time to get back the trophies you think _ah_ cheated for. How exactly do ya think yer gonna do that?”  
  
_“I…”_

_ “And what if that didn’t work? _ What if you didn’t go back in time? And, even now, imagine if this gets out!” The Conductor stopped and turned to face Grooves. “Director DJ Grooves tries ta  _ MURDER _ child actor!” They put their hands on the armrests now, trapping Grooves in his seat as they got closer.

_ “What the peck were yer thinkin’, Dominic?” _

DJ Grooves was surprised at the use of his real name. There were very few times The Conductor used that name. He sighed.

“I… don’t know what I was thinking. I guess winning got to my head…”

“How the peck does winnin’ make ya wanna  _ murder _ a child?”

“I don’t know!” Grooves leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath.

“I guess… winning first after years and years of being second… It felt  _ amazing.  _ Second place is better than nothing, but after a bit it gets  _ tiring.  _ ‘Congrats on Second!’ ‘Good job getting second! You deserve it!’ Everytime, they’re being genuine, but…” He paused, looking away.

“It just felt like a constant reminder about how there's always someone better than me. About how I’m good,  _ but not good enough.” _

He looked back at The Conductor.

“And… I had asked my penguins to find out what our new props really were… and we found out. I mean, I wasn’t sure of our plan, but when I had won award 42… the feeling I had… I knew I had to try it.”

“And your fight with the lass?”

DJ Grooves stayed silent.

“Grooves…”

They stared at each other, waiting.

The penguin sighed.

“I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t thinking straight at all. All I could think about was all of those rewards, and how happy I would feel… I was ready to do anything…“

DJ Grooves felt himself get emotional as he started to truly realize what he had done, and the consequences of his actions.

“And…”

His body felt cold.

“Oh  _ stars… what have I done?” _

Tears started to flow down his cheeks.

His hands went to brush away his tears and he hid his face after, feeling embarrassed to cry in front of The Conductor. Feeling bad for everything he had done.

Oh stars, he didn’t deserve that trophy, he didn’t deserve anything.

He was surprised when he felt arms wrap around him, and even more surprised when he realized It was The Conductor hugging him.

“Hey, Don’t apologize to me, wait until you see the lass.”

He didn’t even realize he’d been apologizing to The Conductor.

Grooves hugged him back, holding onto him tightly. How long had it been since he last had a hug? A real hug like this? He couldn’t remember right now, only thinking about how nice hugging The Conductor felt. 

“We’ll figure this out, and you can fix things, alright Grooves?”

He nodded.

“Alright, Connie.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow my tumblr :] @ParasiteKing


End file.
